IU gets its 18 signatures

No late shenanigans out of the football players who verbally committed to IU this year. All 18 have signed. Here’s a release from Jeff Keag at IU media realations:

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Eighteen student-athletes will continue their football playing careers at Indiana University, head coach Bill Lynch announced on Wednesday. Lynchâ€™s second recruiting class includes one four-star recruit and 12 three-star recruits in the Rivals.com and Scout.com rankings.

Eight players in the class reside from Indiana, five from Ohio, two each from Illinois and Michigan and one from Pennsylvania. The Hoosiers bolstered their depth on the offensive line, signing a quartet of linemen. Indiana added two quarterbacks, two wide receivers, two defensive linemen, two linebackers and two defensive backs. The Hoosiers also welcomed one running back, one tight end, one kicker and one fullback/linebacker for the incoming class of 2009.

â€œWe are excited that this group of young men has decided to join us,â€ Lynch said. â€œWe feel we covered our positions of need with high-quality prospects that achieved a great deal throughout their high school careers. Our staff did a great job identifying, evaluating and recruiting this outstanding group, and we feel we became a better football program today.â€

Notes on Class:
* Adam Replogle will join his brother, junior linebacker Tyler, next season.
* Dimitrius Carr, Dusty Kiel, Colin Rodkey, Duwyce Wilson and Nick Zachery each reached their respective state semifinals in 2008. Zachery (2005-07) and Lawrence Barnett (2007) were both part of state championship teams in their careers. Barnett also won a basketball state title in 2007.
* Javon Cornleyâ€™s brother, Jamelle, is a senior forward on Penn Stateâ€™s menâ€™s basketball team.
* The eight signees from Indiana make it 46 on the IUâ€ˆroster, accounting for 43.8 percent of the team.
* Seventeen of the 18 signees played at least two sports in high school.

What about Josh Keyt? He was a verbal with an offer who isn’t on the list of signees.

Duwyce Wilson, Nick Zachery, Lawrence Barnett, Dusty Keil, Nick Turner and Aaron Price are all kids I have seen play multiple times and really like.

Keil and Wilson were electric together, and if you watch them, it is hard to say who complimented the other more, though I would say Wilson made Keil look better for the most part.

Nick Zachery is just a play, a multi-sport kid, who played both sides of the ball, not only being the offensive leader at QB, but one of the best defenders at safety that Sheridan has ever had. Not to mention 3 state rings to boot.

Barnett just plays hard, and doesn’t give up big plays.

Nick Turner could be the dark horse in this class. You know the 1 kid that is under the radar, expected to fill a back up spot by many, and explodes to being a force on the team.

Price is one of those work horse kids. Tell him what you want, and he goes and does it. He was drafted o-line, but if he could get a better first step off the snap could easily make the switch to DE or DT if need be.

Edward Wright-Baker is an exceptional athlete, and I hope the staff can convince him to be an athlete on the field instead of a QB on the bench.

I had heard Blackwell was offered preferred status, but wasn’t sure if he was going or not.

As for being familiar with him, you might say that. I coached him in 7th grade at Jackson Creek and have seen every game but 1 he has played in during his career at South. I am not sure where he will end up at, but what IU has got in him is an extremely tough kid who will sacrifice everything but his hair (see Hugh’s Mohawk story from sectionals) for his football team.

What are we supposed to accept? It certainly not an amazing class, but its better than any class we’ve brought in during the last decade. When was the last time we brought in 13 3-stars in a class? Or a 4-star (Finch was a 4-star, but he transferred here)? When was the last time we weren’t ranked 11th in the conference in recruiting? When was the last time we finished in the top 60 nationally? Gotta start somewhere.

Mediocrity? I would be thrilled right now with mediocrity. Mediocrity is 6-6! The question seems to be not IU’s commitment to mediocrity; it’s the school’s commitment to complete football irrelevance. Big difference.